The former two-term East Nashville councilman has landed a newly created position in the Nashville Mayor’s Office where he will oversee a program focused on helping low-income residents reduce debt and build assets.

Cole will lead the Financial Empowerment Center program, an endeavor the mayor announced Tuesday that comes thanks to a three-year, $2 million grant via New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Philanthropies and Living Cities fund. Cole is set to begin the new gig in February, with plans to step down from his current position as executive director of the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services at the end of this month.

His new position is funded through the same grant.

Cole, already playing the role of obedient mayor’s office servant, directed all questions to Dean’s press secretary Bonna Johnson when contacted by The Tennessean.

In tapping Cole, the mayor has turned to one of his administration’s loyalists from day one – literally. (After serving as senior adviser for former Councilman David Briley’s mayoral campaign in 2007, Cole quickly became co-chair of Dean’s campaign during his September run-off against former U.S. Rep. Bob Clement).

Cole was an outspoken supporter of Dean’s $623 million Music City Center as the mayor pushed for its financing. He also backed Dean’s failed endeavor to redevelop the Metro-owned Tennessee State Fairgrounds.

More recently, Cole led the pro property tax organization Moving Nashville Forward, which successfully lobbied the council to pass Davidson County’s first property tax increase in seven years. The group – billed as “grassroots” – organized as a 501(c)(4), and received financial backing from Dean’s campaign committee coffers.

According to financial disclosures, Dean’s camp donated $26,000 to Moving Nashville Forward, which left critics, albeit few in number, wondering whether the group was in fact just an extension of the mayor’s office itself.

In a press release, the mayor’s office referenced Cole’s current work at the alliance for legal services, where he coordinated with non-profit agencies serving low-income individuals, and a previous stint as chairman of the Metro Homelessness Commission.

The new program Erik Cole is poised to lead from the mayor’s office will partner with United Way of Metropolitan Nashville. The hope is to teach 5,000 Nashvillians the following: how to open safe and affordable checking accounts, establish a credit score, maintain a positive balance, decrease debt and maintain savings.

The new financial empowerment centers, set to open in March, are slated for the Levy Place Center in East Nashville and South Nashville and the new Casa Azafran Community Center on Nolensville Pike.

In addition to Nashville, four other cities took a chunk of the $16.2 million distributed to assist low-income residents: Denver, Lansing, Mich., Philadelphia, and San Antonio.